Summary: It's been two months since Sarah Rogers joined Steve and Natasha's lives. Wanting to be the perfect housewife, Natasha stops working at SHIELD to raise Sarah but discovers it's not as easy as the movies make it out to be.

Takes place between 'Worth My Time' and 'Gunshots and Misunderstandings'

Natasha was about ready to cry. Sarah was refusing to nap and wouldn't stop crying no matter what Natasha tried. She'd tried humming, bouncing gently, warm milk, the stupid rocking chair, and even a car ride. She was pretty sure Sarah had fallen asleep during the drive, but as soon as Natasha had tried to move her from her car seat to her bed, Sarah had woken up with a whimper followed by a loud cry. At the current moment, Natasha was sitting in the rocking chair, humming as soothingly as she could, while Sarah continued to cry.

"Please go to sleep," Natasha whispered, rubbing Sarah's back with tears in her own eyes. Sarah slowly calmed down until she was just hiccupping. Encouraged, Natasha continued to hum softly and rock in the chair until she was certain Sarah had finally fallen asleep. She breathed a deep sigh of relief and carefully stood up. Sarah made a noise and Natasha bounced her gently, humming quietly in hopes of keeping her asleep. Sarah settled back down and Natasha carefully laid her in her bed. She froze as Sarah shifted and moaned, but the baby didn't wake up. Natasha turned on the baby monitor and took the second one with her into the kitchen, closing Sarah's door softly.

Now that Sarah was asleep, Natasha could work on dinner. Steve would be home in an hour and she hadn't even had lunch yet. Oh well. Just another thing to add to the list of things she didn't get now that they had a baby. Sleep was right at the top of that list considering Sarah rarely slept longer than an hour at a time during the night. Steve would offer to get her instead, but Natasha always did it. Steve worked during the day and she didn't; besides, if she wanted to be one of those perfect housewives they always saw on TV, she had to be the one to take care of Sarah at night. Steve needed his sleep and she could get by without it, so it worked out.

Natasha knew Steve wouldn't care if they had toast and cereal for dinner, but she still decided to make lasagna. She put it in the oven to bake then pulled out the French bread she'd bought earlier that day. She covered it in butter and garlic, putting it aside until she could use the oven again. Once the lasagna had finished cooking for an hour, she put the bread in to warm then checked on Sarah. Thankfully, she was still fast asleep in her bed.

Natasha was in the middle of pulling the bread from the oven when the front door opened and she heard Steve call out to her. She set the bread on the stove top and pulled off her oven mitts as Steve walked into the kitchen.

"Hello," he said softly, pulling her close and kissing her forehead.

"Hey," she replied, wrapping her arms around him. She melted into his touch and closed her eyes. She was about to fall asleep right there when Steve pulled away to see what was for dinner. She forced her eyes open to see him looking at her in concern.

"Are you alright, Nat?" he asked, stepping away from the lasagna and back towards her. She nodded and ran a hand through her hair, forgetting it was French braided until her fingers caught in the braid. "You look absolutely exhausted."

"Well, we do have a baby in the house," she said, laughing lightly. Steve still looked concerned but nodded.

"Where is she?" he asked, looking around for where Natasha could have set up a playpen.

"Sleeping," Natasha answered. She stepped towards the sink to do the dishes and glanced over her shoulder to see Steve heading towards Sarah's room. "If you wake her up, you're both sleeping outside tonight."

"Yes, ma'am," Steve smiled over his shoulder. She smiled back then looked down at all the dishes she had to do. They had piled up from last night and the large sink was now nearly overflowing with dirty dishes. Sighing, she filled the sink with water and started working on the dishes she couldn't just put in the dishwasher.

Steve carefully opened the door to Sarah's bedroom. It didn't make a sound as he pushed it open and walked over to Sarah's bed. She was sprawled out on her back, pacifier replaced by her thumb. Steve smiled and gently brushed the back of his hand over her cheek. She didn't give any indication she'd felt it and kept sleeping. Steve gently pulled her thumb from her mouth and gave her the pacifier instead before leaving her room to find Natasha. He'd just shut the door to Sarah's room when he heard a loud crash come from the kitchen.

Steve rushed down the hall and into the kitchen to find Natasha on the ground. Her legs were crumpled underneath her and she was slumped against the corner of the counter. Worried, Steve hurried forward and knelt down in front of her. Her head was hanging in front of her and she looked like she was unconscious.

"Nat?" he asked, lifting up her head. He was met with the sight of a long gash on her forehead. As soon as he'd moved her head, blood started to seep from the gash and down her face quickly. He looked around the kitchen for something to stop the blood flow with and spotted a dishtowel. He grabbed and pressed it against her forehead. She moaned and slowly opened her eyes.

"Steve?" she asked, looking up at him blearily. Steve nodded and couldn't stop himself from panicking when he noticed blood was seeping through the dishtowel already.

"What happened?" Steve asked, looking frantically around the kitchen for another towel. Natasha reached up to touch her forehead and frowned when she felt a towel pressed against her head.

"I was doing the dishes then I woke up to you pressing a wet dishtowel to my head. I must have fallen asleep," she replied, trying to pry his hand off her head. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"You hit your head, Nat," Steve told her, stretching to grab the towel hanging from the stove. He turned back to her and quickly changed out towels. "You don't remember what happened?"

"No," she said. Steve nodded and gently grabbed her hand to press the towel to her head.

"Keep pressure on it," he told her. Natasha rolled her eyes.

"I know how to take care of head wounds, Steve," she replied. Steve shifted and picked her up smoothly. She instinctively wrapped one arm around his neck and let him carry her towards the elevator. Steve was suddenly very glad they still lived in the Tower. They were going to buy a house last week, but the sale fell through. At the time, it'd been upsetting, but now he was thankful.

"FRIDAY, take us to medical," Steve said, stepping into the elevator with Natasha.

"Right away, Captain," FRIDAY replied. The elevator doors shut and they were taken down to the medical floor. When Steve walked out of the elevator with Natasha in his arms, a bloody towel barely covering her forehead, nurses rushed over to them and asked what happened. Steve felt horribly useless as he could only respond with 'I don't know' and 'She hit her head', both answers not sounding very helpful.

"Do you remember what happened, miss?" a nurse asked Natasha, hooking her up to a heart monitor.

"No," Natasha answered. After she was settled in a bed, a doctor walked in to examine her head. It was still bleeding profusely and Steve watched helplessly from the side as he worked to stop the blood flow. He'd always hated having to take Natasha to medical after missions and this was no different.

"It looks like you'll need stitches, but your skull doesn't appear damaged," the doctor said, changing his gloves and grabbing a suture kit.

"You should check on Sarah," Natasha told Steve, reaching a hand out to grab his. He clasped her hand tightly and looked down at her. "I'll be fine, but she might have woken up." Steve hesitated, but Natasha insisted.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," he promised, kissing her cheek. Natasha smiled and watched him leave.

"This might hurt a bit," the doctor warned, giving her a shot to numb her forehead. Natasha didn't even flinch at the prick or when he started to suture her forehead back together.

* * * * *

When Steve returned to the medical floor for Natasha, she was fast asleep. Her forehead had a large band-aid over the cut, under which he figured her stitches were. Sarah was with Pepper and Tony who were more than willing to take care of her for the night. Steve walked out of Natasha's room to find a nurse and ask if he could take her home.

"You can as long as you can promise she'll get plenty of sleep," the nurse said, glancing over Natasha's file. "She has a mild concussion and severe sleep deprivation."

"God, Nat," Steve muttered, glancing in the direction of Natasha's room. "Yeah, I'll make sure she sleeps."

"Then you're good to go," the nurse said, handing Steve papers to sign. "Come back in two weeks to have her stitches removed and check how her concussion is clearing up."

"Alright," Steve agreed. He thanked her, handed her back the papers, and returned to Natasha. She was no longer hooked up to any machines, so he was able to easily pick her up off the bed. She moaned and curled towards him, but didn't wake up. He walked towards the elevator and took both of them up to their floor. As soon as they were back on their floor, he carried her all the way back to their bedroom and laid her down. She didn't make a sound as he let her go and tucked her in. Once he was sure she was alright, he went into the kitchen to finish the dishes, put away the dinner she'd made, and clean up the blood that hadn't been stopped by the dishtowel.

It was only 9:00 PM, but Steve didn't feel like staying up and doing anything. He changed out of his jeans and bloody t-shirt, throwing it in the wash even though by now the blood was dried. He carefully climbed into bed beside Natasha and pulled her against his chest. She rolled over and tucked her head in the crook of his neck. Subconsciously, she wrapped an arm around him and sighed happily. Steve smiled at her and gently kissed her nose before kissing the band-aid over her gash. He made a mental note to call Fury the next morning and let him know he would only be working part-time at SHIELD until further notice. Clearly Natasha needed more help than she was going to let on.